Work Safety: Context Makes a Difference

JOHN GEE

AT THE beginning of May, the Ministry of Manpower said that it was working with the Workplace Safety and Health Council to implement a safety timeout, after a spate of accidents in April in which several workers were killed. That followed nine workplace deaths in the first three months of the year.

Every accident has its specific causes. It is often the case that neglect of safety precautions and breaches of rules intended to protect life and limb can be pinpointed, whether on the part of employers or workers, or whether as the cause or as contributing to how serious the outcome of an unforeseeable accident was.